Package of Cheer

My birds of change came today - and it couldn't have been better timing. Just what I needed, really. They are each so cool in their own way. I photographed them hanging on a picture mobile, but I think they will eventually find their own special place around the house. Thanks mostly to Regina for creating and organizing this exchange and to everyone who participated.

This painted wood bird is from Amy Lyons at aplcreations.com.

These are paper clay sitting on a cast pewter branch, from Schlovonne (I'm sorry I don't have a link!)

Regina's painted and embellished fabric.

Cotton and felt from Arte da Luluzinha.

Embroidered felt from Affectioknits.

Fly Away Little Birdies

The birdies are on their way to their new homes. That was a fun little diversion. But holy smokes, I have less than two weeks until Maia's birthday and have compiled quite a to-do list for her celebration. First and foremost, I need to finish her birthday ring - she remembered that I said I would and so it must be. Then we have a small fairy party planned and I decided that I wanted to make fairies as party favors - so we're going to try a clothespin doll/fairy scavenger hunt. Maybe a little ambitious for 4-year olds, but should be fun. Then there's a fairy/birthday coloring book in the works. Oh dear, what have I got myself into - all self-imposed of course.


Did I ever post about this birdhouse? I think maybe it got lost in the "back to work" shuffle. Chris and I made this birdhouse following instructions from Sunset magazine. It's supposed to be suitable for Western Bluebirds, which I would love to attract to my yard. I've seen them here a few times but very rarely. But, the exciting news is that the Oak Titmouses, who are around pretty often, have been fluttering about and even in and out of the birdhouse. I'm very excited. I'll try to get a better picture.

Happy Bird for a Happy Day

Here's a happy bird to give away on a happy day. I settled on a slightly different bird for the exchange, but this one is a favorite of the several test birds I made. She is inspired by a bird I got from my grandmother as a child, seen here.

Leave a comment by Friday 5:00 PM PST and I'll pick a random winner. Thanks for stopping by!

Oh, and you don't have to be part of the bird exchange to win the free bird - so please leave a comment.

Mama Bear, Birds, Bathrooms and Books

Over a year ago, we noticed some red splotchy marks on Maia's left leg. And if I had several hours, I'd explain all the stuff we've been doing to figure this problem out... but suffice it to say that I have at least four doctors on my $#!*list of people to send a thanks-for-nothing letter (which I'm pretty sure will never actually happen but anyway...) On Wednesday, after taking her to a new set of doctors, we got confirmation that she has scleroderma, an autoimmune disease that causes excess collagen production in the affected tissues. For Maia, the affected area is her entire leg, and she is experiencing loss of range of motion in her knee, ankle, and foot, skin tightening and discoloration. The treatment involves a couple drugs and physical therapy, and I guess this could go on for a few years. This terrifies me, but at this point I feel like any moment not treating it, is potentially more permanent damage to her leg.

So, I've had my crying day, my angry day, my fearful day. Eventually, I'll settle into focusing all that Mama Bear energy into helping Maia get better. She's such a sweet little trooper and I love her to pieces.

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Birds, birds, birds... After several test birds, I think I finally have my pattern for Regina's swap. Pictures and progress coming soon.

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Um, the bathroom got torn up - I don't know how this happened, but here we are with a stripped down 5 x 8 room with a tub and a couple holes in the floor. We've got some new tile coming and Chris is planning a new cabinet with a sink and some wall units we already bought at Ikea. It'll be nice but like I said, it wasn't exactly on our list of priorities, so I'm not really sure why we're doing it now, but it was possibly the ugliest bathroom on the planet, so I am not complaining.

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Look at this cute book Sofia wrote for us. She's pretty neat.

This Swap is Right Up My Alley...

Why not start the year right by jumping right in to a swap? We're going to make 5 little birdies, send them to Creative Kismet, she'll divvy them up, and send us 5 birds from other participants! I'm picturing a permanent bird tree display in our future.

I'm not sure what I'll be making but here's some inspiration found right in our house:
I made this one using some home dyed refelted (by a friend of a friend) felt. She sits at my desk and at Christmas time on the tree.

I bought this wet felted beauty at the Felt Club XL event one year.

OK, this one's from Starbucks, but it's cute too.

And last, this one came from my Nana, at least I think it did - it reminds me of her anyway, and it was made in Mexico. I've had it in my Coca Cola box display for as long as I remember. I love it's colors, and paintings. So this ought to keep me busy.

Note Cards Swapped

I received my notecards today - they're beautiful! They're made by (clockwise from upper left) Anastasia, Deborah Crawford, Heather S., Regina, and kate vee & me. Thanks everyone, and thanks Regina for organizing. My contribution was this.

Notecard for Swapping

This is my contribution to Regina's Notecard Swap. I was inspired by photos taken by our neighbor of his plum tree blossoms with bees. I first did a quick sketch by hand and then refined it to a simple line drawing. Next I scanned it in to Illustrator and separated it into color layers. Each color layer was then printed in black. I used these to make print gocco screens and then did the printing with the gocco. I was disappointed with the white ink coverage. It didn't show at all on the lighter colored paper. So, after experimenting a little, I found that hand painting with a white Caran D'Ache crayon worked. The cards are printed on DCWV acid-free and lignin-free paper. Other contributions to the swap will be posted here.